Rove still has advice to dish

Bob Novak reports that Karl Rove believes he knows how to get the GOP
back on solid ground.

Karl Rove, President Bush?s political lieutenant, told a
closed-door meeting of 2008 Republican House candidates and their
aides Tuesday that it was less the war in Iraq than corruption in
Congress that caused their party?s defeat in the 2006 elections.

Rove?s clear advice to the candidates is to distance themselves
from the culture of Washington. Specifically, Republican candidates
are urged to make clear they have no connection with disgraced
congressmen such as Duke Cunningham and Mark Foley.

In effect, Rove was rebutting the complaint inside the party that
George W. Bush is responsible for Republican miseries by invading
Iraq.

You?ll remember, of course, that this is the same Rove who assured
Republican candidates in 2006 that Dems couldn?t possibly win back
both chambers of Congress. When pushed before the elections about the
polls favoring Dems, Rove told NPR that he?d found a secret math that
gives him insights that mere mortals can?t comprehend.

ROVE: I?m looking at all of these Robert and adding them up. I add
up to a Republican Senate and Republican House. You may end up with a
different math but you are entitled to your math and I?m entitled to
THE math.

SIEGEL: I don?t know if we?re entitled to a different math but
your?

ROVE: I said THE math.

About a month ago, (subscription-only) Roll Call had an item on
whether Rove ?still holds the same stature among Republicans that he
once enjoyed.? The article suggested that his star has fallen. As Sen.
Trent Lott (R-Miss.) put it, ?Obviously, I?m not a fan.?

And yet, Rove?s still at it, telling ?08 candidates not to worry too
much about all of that unpleasantness in Iraq. I?m not sure why the
GOP candidates would listen to Rove?s advice, but if Dems are really
lucky, the myth of Rove?s genius will lead Republicans to misread the
landscape and take Turd Blossom?s advice.

Steve Benen
.

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